One thing the Country Womens Association does well is bring people and organisations together.
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There was no better illustration of this than the mammoth jam-making efforts that took place, thanks to the involvement and willingness of the hard working CWA volunteers and organisations that were prepared to back them with anything they needed.
Sydney-based CWA members usually undertake annual jam making activities as a regular fundraising exercise.
Tonya Valentino, who along with her mother has been a life-long volunteer of the CWA, was having difficulty sourcing funding and ingredients for their annual jam production.
“The universe more than responded as 175,000 strawberries landed on their doorstep, courtesy of Sydney Markets,” a CWA spokesperson said.
“At the time, news had broken that needles had been found in strawberries around the country.
“They stopped selling with consumers too fearful to risk eating them.
“The amazing thing about the effort to turn this fruit into jam is the huge degree of collaboration that had to take place between usually disparate and distant organisations who needed to work towards a collaborative outcome.
“When contacted about the fruit, Foodbank NSW was CWA’s first call, to see if they could possibly store that many strawberries in their cold storage.
“To their huge credit, Foodbank NSW jumped on board and even offered to transport the strawberries.
“Then the next challenge was to find a place to cook them.
“CWA of NSW is so indebted to the Dinner Ladies for letting us take over their commercial kitchen for this purpose.
“All these efforts have resulted in a beautiful product being made that serves many purposes.
“A huge wastage of strawberries was avoided and CWA will also be able to provide jams back to Foodbank, who are doing amazing work by providing meals to needy people all across Australia, including regional, rural and remote areas.
“Money raised from the sale of the jams will also be put towards education grants and drought relief.
“To top it off, it was also discovered the CWA branch in Wongarbon had been asked to cater for a special morning tea, one that would be attended by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
“The jam was reportedly delicious, and a wonderful way to welcome the Duke and Duchess to central NSW.”
The lesson from all of this?
As Ronald Reagan once said ‘There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit’.
